*Highlights of Brno: a walking route around the historical capital of Moravia – 9 km*

• Brno is the Czech Republic’s second largest city and while it does not draw the same number of tourists as Prague, the historical capital of Moravia remains a popular city for visitors, either as a stopover on a tour of Moravia or as a standalone destination.
• Most visitors to the city will already have an idea of the sites they want to see and in what order, but for those interested in a suggested walking route, the following tour takes in the author’s favourite places in Brno over the course of a 9 km circuit, starting at the train station.
• The suggested route traverses the middle of the old town, passing through the main squares and the old town hall (which has a popular viewing tower, and of course the legendary ‘dragon’ of Brno, suspended from the ceiling…).
• Visit the spectacular Gothic church of St James, before heading north out of the old town, crossing two parks, including Lužánky, which is apparently the oldest park in the country, established in 1786.
• Close to Lužánky is the famous villa area, where the UNESCO listed Tugendhat villa is located. Tours of this remarkable functionalist villa need to be booked well in advance, but the garden area is freely accessible, without charge. Tugendhat is located at the top end of the garden belonging to the well-known Art Nouveau Villa Löw-Beer.
• The route then heads back into the old town to visit the historic Špilberk Castle area before moving on to see St Thomas’s Abbey, the Augustinian monastery, where the famous 19th century geneticist, Gregor Mendel was abbot. Next to the monastery is the Starobrno brewery, a good spot for lunch in the 1930’s style restaurant.
• Returning back to the old town for a final time, visit the landmark Gothic cathedral of St Peter and Paul, before exploring some of the old city fortifications and then return to the train station.
• There is no specific logic to the route described above and shown in the map below, so it can be done in either direction. The route is manageable with a stroller. There are many good cafés and restaurants in Brno, so finding refreshments on the way should not be a challenge. For some quality ice cream, try the Zmrzlinárna Ještě Jednu at map point 4.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• As there are no trail markings to follow on the streets of Brno, providing specific directions is probably not that helpful
• Take a good street map, or the mapy.cz phone application and plot the key sites listed above. There is no ‘best way’ around the attractive Brno streets and so explore at leisure!